Last week, the DfE published some interesting data on attendance during the autumn and spring terms s of the past few years. The figures, as the DfE acknowledges, are affected by the progress of the covid pandemic. Nevertheless, it is interesting to look at the 2021/22 autumn and spring term data for overall absence as measured by local authority. The data are for upper-tier authorities, so in the remaining ‘shire counties’ it isn’t possible to drill down to district council level. Such data would be especially interesting as it would allow better comparisons between district and unitary councils and the urban borough of London and the Metropolitan areas. Pupil absence in schools in England: autumn and spring terms, Autumn and Spring Term 2021/22 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)
Even with out this data, the dominance of the London boroughs in the table as ranked by lowest levels of absence is very plain to see. Only Trafford and Bracknell Forest break in to the list of the top 25 local authorities with the lowest overall absence rates for autumn 2021 and spring 2022 terms, a fact demonstrated by the regional data in the table below. Camden seems to be something of an outlier in the London data with rates for overall absence well about the average for its companion boroughs.
| Absence rates by region, autumn and spring terms 2021/22 | |||
| Overall absence rate | Rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances | Percentage of persistent absentees – 10% or more sessions missed | |
| North East | 7.90% | 1.10% | 24.30% |
| North West | 7.30% | 1.20% | 22.30% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 7.60% | 1.20% | 23.00% |
| East Midlands | 7.40% | 1.30% | 22.10% |
| West Midlands | 7.60% | 1.40% | 23.30% |
| East of England | 7.50% | 1.50% | 23.00% |
| South East | 7.40% | 1.60% | 22.20% |
| South West | 8.00% | 1.40% | 24.70% |
| Inner London | 6.30% | 1.30% | 18.70% |
| Outer London | 6.40% | 1.20% | 18.80% |
Inner London, has the lowest overall absence rate for the period, followed by the Outer London boroughs. The South West, a region with no real urban outside of the Bristol Region, had the worst overall absence rate, ahead of even the North East that featured in my recent post about unauthorised absences this September. Absent without leave | John Howson (wordpress.com)
The DfE’s data on overall absence covers primary, secondary and special schools and it would be interesting to see the data by sector for each local authority. Are the areas where the DfE has pupped in extra funds performing better than those with just the National Funding Formula and high Needs block to rely upon? Although above the regional average, the percentage figure for Blackpool is by no means the worst in the North West, so hopefully, the funding is making a difference.
As might be expected, the overall absence rate for the secondary sector at 9.2% in Spring Term 2021/22 was higher than in the primary sector, where it was 6.7%. Both included a 1% figure for covid related absences. In 2018/19, before the pandemic, the secondary sector recorded an overall absence rate of 5.6% and the primary sector a rate of 4.1%. Not surprisingly, it seemed easier to encourage primary school pupils back into school after the pandemic.
Ensuring pupils are back in school must be the first step on the recovery in learning, and there must be thoughts about the missing adolescents and how they can be encouraged to start learning again. Might that affect judgements about future funding, or will the government write off these young people and their learning?
John Howson 